Tavia Morra, courtesy of ak press Speculating about how the US will crack apart is a cottage industry for sci-fi authors and political commentators. Ernest Callenbach did it in 1975 with Ecotopia, a novel about the Pacific Northwest seceding from the rest of the country. In 1981, journalist Joel Garreau argued that the US was […]
Joe Streckert
Joe Streckert is the author of Storied & Scandalous Portland, Oregon: A History of Gambling, Vice, Wits, and Wagers. He writes about books, history, and comics.
Posted inBooks
Book Review: Rajneeshpuram Digs Into the Behind-the-Scenes Dirt of the ’80s Oregon Rajneesh Cult
Rajneeshees line up outside of a building in the 1980s. The movement created upheaval in the sleepy town of Antelope, which they renamed Rajneesh. Courtesy of Oregon Historical Society Any current work about Rajneeshpuramโthe cult that operated out of Wasco County, Oregon in the ’80sโ lives in the shadow of Netflixโs 2018 documentary series Wild […]
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People Want to Read Changing the Narrative, PSU’s Graphic Novel Comic Collection About Student Homelessness
Changing the Narrative visually tells the stories of those who have been homeless and/or experienced food and housing insecurities. ARTIST ARANTZA PENฬA POPO, COPYRIGHT PSU 2021 Portland State University instructor Kacy McKinney has used comics to teach in her classroom, written about them academically, and made them herself. Now she’s bringing local organizations together with […]
Posted inSpring Arts Preview 2022
People Want to Read Changing the Narrative, PSU’s Graphic Novel Comic Collection About Student Homelessness
Portland State University instructor Kacy McKinney has used comics to teach in her classroom, written about them academically, and made them herself. Now she’s bringing local organizations together with indie artists to tell stories about homelessness, and what it means to cope with food and housing insecurity, through an 80-page full color comic. Changing the […]
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Lost Portland Uncovers Not Only Dead Buildings but the History of Portland’s Arsonist Firefighter
Courtesy of The History Press If you’re walking through inner Portland, there’s a good chance whatever buildings you’re looking at sit on the sites of past constructions. Since at least the 1890s, flames or wrecking balls have claimed cathedrals, mansions, office buildings, and family homes, swept aside by the needs of the city or the […]
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Ryan North’s Long View Perspective in How to Invent Everything Curves Towards Hope For Humanity
Courtesy of the artist, author photo by Connie Tsang You’re a time traveler. Your time machine broke and you’re trapped in the past. There’s no way you’re getting back to the future, but you can invent a new one. That’s the premise of How to Invent Everything, the new book from Ryan North, best known […]
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How to Fake Being a Portland Native
If youโre new to Portland, you may have experienced a moment when someone gives you a look and pointedly asks, โWhere are you from?โ They know. You donโt know how they know, but somehow theyโve figured out that youโre not from here. You panic at suddenly having to admit that youโre an out-of-state transplant. Iโm […]
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Julie Whippleโs Crash Course Will Make You Never Want to Fly Again
COVER ART BY LUKAS KETNER On December 28, 1978, United Airlines Flight 173 ran out of fuel over Portland and crashed. The massive airliner set down at East Burnside and 157th and plowed through the streets of what is now East Portland, shredding itself apart as it skidded over concrete. Ten people died, more were […]
Posted inArts
Julie Whippleโs Crash Course Will Make You Never Want to Fly Again
The 1978 Portland Crash Changed Commercial Flight as We Knew It
Julie Whipple’s Crash Course explores the 1978 Portland plane crash that claimed the lives of 10 and changed commercial flight as we knew it.
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The Secret Token Exposes the Mythology of the Roanoke Colony
In 1587, 115 colonists established Englandโs first small colony of the Americas on Roanokeโa swampy, coastal island that would eventually be considered part of North Carolina. The governor of the colony, John White, returned to England shortly after. Three years later he returned to find the colony gone. There was nothing: no corpses, no burnt […]
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The Secret Token Exposes the Mythology of the Roanoke Colony
Journalist Author Andrew Lawler Contextualizes One of America’s Favorite Mysteries
Andrew Lawler outlines the history, disappearance, and the eventual mythologizing of the Roanoke colony in his new book The Secret Token.
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Early Map Makers Didn’t Know What Was Going on in OregonโSo They Made Stuff Up
Youโre no geography expert, but you probably have a basic idea of where nations and continents are positioned on a globe, right? But it wasnโt that long ago when people who drew maps only had the vaguest idea of what our planet actually looks like. European and American maps from before the 1800s only sort […]